Rice paper is the name traditionally given in the West to a thin, delicate painting surface used for nineteenth-century Chinese export pictures. Despite the name it is not made from rice at all, but is pith paper, cut in thin sheets from the spongy inner stem of a plant native to southern China and Taiwan. The term is also used loosely for various fine East Asian papers.
Pith paintings were produced in large numbers in Canton and other treaty ports for Western sailors, merchants and travellers, and were often sold in silk-bound albums or sets. Typical subjects include costumed figures, mandarins and their wives, trades and occupations, punishments, boats, birds, insects and flowers, painted in bright gouache that sits on the surface and gives a soft, velvety sheen. The material is extremely fragile, brittle with age and sensitive to damp, so cracking, losses, insect damage and fading are common. Complete albums in original covers and pictures with strong colour and fine detail command the best prices. Framed in groups, they bring a light, decorative note of the China trade to cabinets and drawing rooms, and they should be hung away from direct sunlight.
